Elephants @ campsite , goodbyes and new campers

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Geo: -12.8546, 31.311

Got back from our trip to bush camp and there were some people in our campsite on the other side of our "office" picnic table. This was not too bad because we still had our view but they had a fire in the fire pit not 6 feet from our tent which was not good! They had stuff all around the braii pit but all seemed ok.

Sitting at the table with our computers up and running and up walks a young man that introduces himself as Adam. He is one of the campers along with three others that are in the park at present. We talk for a minute and assure him it is ok for them to be camped there but NO FIRES in the firepit because of smoke for one thing but the danger of sparks and our tent was a definite no no! He is a stringer for Africa Geographic and hopes to end up in Chad. Conrad came over to our table to see how things went and BOO was with him and this is when we discovered they had a chicken in a cage under the braii pit! Seems they are hoping to become self-sustaining with eggs. We of course hope that the baboons do not discover this chicken while we are around!

Visit with Albert and Sue before having dinner and then to the bar for a few drinks and then to bed. Were awakened by the sound of an elephant munching on grass it seemed. Went on for quite awhile and then you can hear the footsteps on the gravel and then the shadow as it passed by our tent and then we can see the elephant in front of our tent getting ready to munch on the very small tree right in front of our tent. It was a very large elephant with some very nice tusks! When the elephant had moved away from the grass and over to our tent area, all of a sudden you could hear loud whispers as the kids in the tent began to talk of their experience and then there were giggles and suddenly, the elephant turns his head and looks in our tent, I swear, and then made that rumbling in his throat. Fortunately, decided to make a peaceful exit over to some better trees.

That morning we talked to the kids in the tent and they still were pretty jazzed by the elephant except the one girl that had joined their expedition and did not seem to well versed in adventure camping. Adam had actually taken a picture of the elephant through a window of their tent. Very cool! The next day we had lots of elephants in and around the various parts of the camp. Albert and Sue invited us to go for a ride. We were going to try to find the Chizombo Lagoon we had visited on our first visit to South Luangwa. Went into Mfuwe to get some beer and then decided to go to Flatdogs.It was nice to say hello to everyone that was there, Jess and Aide, Paolo, Harold, Shade, Kennedy and Nellie. What was even nicer was they remembered us and were glad to see us. Had a few drinks out on the front lawn but did not walk over to the old campgrounds.

From there went in search of the Chizombo Lagoon and were not finding it and ran into Herman off searching for his friends that had gone off in his car and were not back. Told us where to go and it is just not like what either of us remember but there were some nice elephants there.

The next day we had coffee with Albert and Sue and discussed places to go and things to see in Venice. Venice is one of Sue's favorite places to visit and so they had some great suggestions. They are getting packed up to leave to Malawi for two months. They are traveling with two small backpacks and one shoulder bag each and that is all! Good for them but don't think I can travel like that anymore. Would like to cut down on what I bring though.

Albert has a GOPRO he is taking with him that he has disguised as a voodoo doll on a stick made from rubber from inner tube and bright colored cloth and something the go pro rests inside. Quite the clever disguise unless the voodoo man in the village doesn't like it. Said our goodbyes to them and hope we will have more adventures with them in the future. Were great fun to be with.

Now we have an empty space beside us to see who will join us next! In Patrick and Verena's spot is a nice family with four lovely children from the Netherlands. The kids are from about 12 to l8 and are enjoying the pool and getting to see wild animals.

The night after Albert and Sue left we were in the bar having a great time with an overland truck
driver, Joel, and Ovid about the regions and names of the villages in the South Luangwa alley. The different chiefdom names are Jumbe, Kakumbe, Makuna (near airport), Malama, Nsolo and the major chiefdom, Nsefu. Ovid also was talking about for every 50 villages there is one clinic. Did not tell how big a area was that was considered a village.

We were enjoying learning more about the surrounds when Dora came over the radio that there were 3 cars heading for the campsite and to put them in the overland space near the lagoon. Joel goes over to talk to them but they were not having any of that back row stuff, they wanted to be on the front row which meant in that space that Albert and Sue were in. Robert went over to keep our space claimed by sitting at our picnic table until they all got parked. They did manage to get all three LandRovers in that space very close together and knew that was our picnic table.

Robert had talked to a couple of the guys about our table and they assured us they were cool with our space. Robert came back to the bar and we continued our discussion with Joel, Ovid and the overland driver. Ovid went out to check on the campground and came back and made a comment to the effect that it seemed the kids in the new group were a little mischievous and hoped they would not be a problem. So now we have in two campsites next to us, a family with four children in one and in the other three vehicles with couple with no children, couple with two children, and another couple with three children. This of course is tee up for the next elephant story.

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